Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!

The last few weeks have been busy with packing, house hunting, wrapping up things at work, and saying goodbye to friends. We are still planning to move the first or second week of January, and have all-but-decided on a rental property. But the details will have to wait for another blog post!

I also want to write about some other things I've been thinking about recently: generosity, extravagance, and the "foolishness" of following Christ. But a post on that will have to wait too! For now, I'll just touch on the last one. Not only does it seem foolish in the eyes of the world to give everything to follow Jesus, but the very message of the cross of Christ is foolishness.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

This time of year, we celebrate another story that seems ridiculous to those who do not believe: the story of God himself coming to earth in human form, born of a virgin as a baby boy. But for those who believe and who have been born again (John 3:3-7, 16-18), it is the perfect life of this God-man, along with His eventual death and resurrection, that brings us life and hope!

Whether you are spending the day with friends and family, or find yourself in a lonely or difficult situation, I pray that you will find hope in knowing Christ. May you know the joy and blessings of Jesus this Christmas!